Crude-oil futures were choppy but trended lower in Asian trade Wednesday on expectations of U.S. oil stockpiles rising for the sixth consecutive week and some profit-taking.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $101.62 a barrel at 0538 GMT, down $0.21 in the Globex electronic session. April Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.23 to $109.28 a barrel.
U.S. crude-oil inventories rose by 800,000 barrels in the week ended Feb. 21, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said late Tuesday. The closely-watched survey from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due later Wednesday.
Ten analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal on average estimate that oil stocks rose by 800,000 barrels last week.
Oil markets are focusing on the overall build up in U.S. oil stockpiles as refineries shut for maintenance, and not just the debottlenecking of crude at the Nymex delivery point of Cushing, Okla., which resulted in some profit-taking overnight, Tim Evans, energy futures specialist at Citi Futures said in a note.
Both WTI and Brent have been trading at their highest level so far this year, with WTI rising for six weeks in a row and Brent adding gains for three weeks in a row.
On Tuesday, U.S. regulators issued emergency rules requiring extensive tests on crude oil transported by rail, due to safety and environmental concerns after the recent rail accidents. The move may affect the mobility of crude oil in the U.S. and boost transport costs.
Financial markets are also waiting for Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen's statement due on Thursday, and manufacturing data from China due this weekend, which will offer more cues on economic recovery.
Investors continue to cite uncertainty in oil and gas pricing this year with a downside risk to prices in the second half of the year. This is expected to be influenced by rising supply of unconventional oil and gas, the weakness of the global economic recovery and low emerging market demand, consulting firm DNV GL said at a recent industry event.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for March--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 53 points to $2.7928 a gallon, while March heating oil traded at $3.1080, 37 points higher.
ICE gasoil for March changed hands at $923.50 a metric ton, down $1.75 from Tuesday's settlement.
